Auger assembly

ABSTRACT

An auger tube of constant diameter has two auger flights therein. The intake or feed flight has a diameter considerably less than the diameter of the tube and the main flight has a diameter substantially equal to the diameter of the tube. The assembly is primarily for augering concrete or other highly abrasive materials and the provision of the feed flight feeds the main auger with much less wear than heretofore and also requires considerably less horsepower. The flight sections are preferably detachable so that replacement of same, particularly the main flight, is easily accomplished without the necessity of replacing the entire auger flight assembly. Although designed primarily with a reciprocating type auger assembly, it can nevertheless be used in a non-reciprocating design. A relatively stiff cable is secured to the end of a clearance auger situated at the discharge end of the auger tube and extends freely along the discharge conduit and rotates within this conduit to keep the concrete mobile and reduce back-up pressure drag.

United States Patent Coles 1*Aug. 26, 1975 [541' AUGER ASSEMBLY 3,716,304 2/1973 Coles 417/900 [75} Inventor: Manson Ivor coiegwinnipeg, 3,723,020 3/1973 Watanabe 415/72 Canada Primary ExaminerC. .1. Husar [73] Assignee: Mancole Company Limited, Assistant Examiner-L. .1. Casaregola Wi i e Canada Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Stanley G. Ade

[ Notice: The portion of the term of this patent subsequent to Feb. 13, 1990, [57] ABSTRACT has been disclaimed An auger tube of constant diameter has two auger flights therein. The intake or feed flight has a diameter [22] Filed: July 1973 considerably less than the diameter of the tube and [21] APPL 377,630 the main flight has a diameter substantially equal to the diameter of the tube. The assembly is primarily for augering concrete or other highly abrasive materials [52] US. Cl. 415/74; 417/900; 198/64; and the provision of the feed flight f d the main 198/213 auger with much less wear than heretofore and also [5 Int. CL re uires considerably less horsepower The sec- [58] Field of Search 415/72, 74; 417/900; tions are preferably detachable so that replacement of 198/64 213; 416/81 132 same, particularly the main flight, is easily accomplished without the necessity of replacing the entire References Cited auger flight assembly. Although designed primarily UNITED STATES PATENTS with a reciprocating type auger assembly, it can never- 1'661360 3/1923 Clark 415/72 theless be used in a non-reciprocating design. A rela- 1 7 7' 243 1930 L h 198/213 tively stiff cable is secured to the end of a clearance 2,045,757 6/1936 Constantin. 415/72 auger situated at the discharge end of the auger tube 2.5 2/l95l 300th 198/64 and extends freely along the discharge conduit and ro- 2,765-899 10/1956 Ballard r 198/64 tates within this conduit to keep the concrete mobile 3,252,562 5/1966 Brembcck..... 198/213 and reduce back up pressure drag 3,300,811 l/1967 Berger 415/72 3,320,639 5/1967 Harp 198/64 8 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures AUGER ASSEMBLY BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to new and useful improvements in auger assemblies, particularly but not necessarily auger assemblies designed for the movement of concrete or similar materials from one location to the other.

Such auger assemblies often are required to feed raw concrete from a main delivery point to remote locations where the concrete is placed within or between forms and obviates the necessity of manually moving such concrete by wheelbarrows or other equipment.

Normally such auger assemblies are of a reciprocating type as described in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,716,304 and although these worked satisfactorily, nevertheless it has been found that considerable horsepower is required to operate the reciprocating auger when the auger flight thereof is substantially equal in diameter of the full length of the flight.

Due to the highly abrasive nature of concrete and the like, considerable wear occurs both on the flight and on the tube necessitating frequent replacement even although alloy steel and heat treated flights are utilized.

All of this adds to considerable expense in the operating of the machine and time consuming maintenance problems when it is necessary to replace either the auger flight or the tube or both.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention overcomes these disadvantages by providing an auger flight component which includes a feed section and a main section. The diameter of the flight of the feed section is considerably less than the internal diameter of the tube so that practically no wear takes place. By the same token, the reduced diameter feeds concrete efficiently to the main auger flight section which can consist of only one or two flights.

By making the two sections easily detachable from the shaft, independently of one another, replacement of one or other is easily accomplished.

The principal object and essence of the inventionis therefore to provide a device of the character herewithin described which facilitates the feeding of concrete or the like from a hopper to the main portion of an auger assembly.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described in which the feed auger flight and the main auger flight are both detachably secured to the shaft and can be replaced either together or independently as required, thus cutting down the cost of maintenance considerably as the main auger flight is much shorter in length than normal.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described which although designed primarily for use in a reciprocating auger assembly, nevertheless can be used in a fixed auger design.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described which includes a radially extending extension on the inner end of the feed auger flight which always rotates within the hopper thus acting as an agitator and facilitating the feeding of concrete through the feed section of the auger assembly.

A further object of the invention is to provide means to eliminate entry hole crushing inasmuch as the main auger never leaves the tube during the pumping operation.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described which reduces back-up pressure drag in the discharge conduit.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described which is simple in construction, economical in manufacture and otherwise well suited to the purpose for which it is designed.

With the foregoing objects in view, and other such objects and advantages as will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which this invention relates as this specification proceeds, my invention consists essentially in the arrangement and construction of parts all as hereinafter more particularly described, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which:

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is .a cross sectional view of the device shown with a dualreciprocating auger assembly.

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view substantially along the line 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of one of the auger assemblies per se.

FIG. 4 is .a section along the line 44 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a section along the line 5-5 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary side elevation of the discharge end showing the cable in the discharge conduit.

In the drawings like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the different figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Although the present description and drawings refer to a reciprocating auger assembly which shows two such assemblies in side by side relationship, nevertheless it is to be appreciated that the invention can be practiced with either a single reciprocating auger assembly or with a single or multiple fixed or nonreciprocating auger assembly.

Proceeding therefore to describe the invention illustrated in detail, reference should first be made to FIGS. 1 and 2 in which 10 illustrates generally supporting framework consisting of four corner members 11 within which a feed hopper 12 is mounted in the usual way so that concrete or other material being moved by the assembly, can be fed either continuously or by batch as desired.

Situated at the base of the hopper in this embodiment, is a pair of feed apertures 13 in side by side relationship shown in FIG. 2, and secured to the underside of the hopper and in alignment with the apertures 13 is a pair of auger assemblies collectively designated 14 and 14A.

Situated adjacent one end of the support framework 10 is a pair of fluid operators l5 and 15A taking the form of a piston and cylinder assemblies operatively connected to a source of hydraulic pressure (not illustrated), by means of hoses 16. The cylinders of the fluid operators are anchored by the rear ends thereof to a cross member 17 and are supported adjacent the front ends thereof by means of cross member 18.

The piston rods 19 are connected pivotally as at 20, to auger shafts 20 forming part of the auger assembly 14 and 14A, these shafts extending through the hopper l2 and into the assemblies 14 and 14A.

Each assembly includes an auger tube 21 having a constant diameter throughout the length thereof and being secured by one end thereof to the base of the hopper 12 around aperture 13, by means of bolts 22 or the equivalent. I

The other ends of the tubes 21 connect to a common discharge 23 with automatically operating valve plate 24 similar to that described in the above identified U.S. Pat. No. 3,716,304.

Situated within the tube 21 is an auger component collectively designated 25, the construction of which is shown in detail in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5.

The component consists of a feed auger section collectiv ely designated 26 and a main auger section collectively designated 27.

The feed auger section 26 includes a square sleeve 28 which engages over the end of the shaft 20 which is preferably square in cross section in this area.

A feed auger flight 29 is secured around the sleeve 28 in the usual manner and the diameter of this feed auger, identified by reference character 30 in FIG. 3, is considerably less than the internal diameter of the tube 21 identified by reference character 31 in FIG. 1, so that annular clearance is defined between the extremities of the auger flight 29 and the interior of tube 21, said annular clearance being indicated by reference character 32 in FIG. 1.

This clearance should be greater than the largest size of aggragate used in the concrete being moved by the assembly so that no chance of jamming can occur between the feed flight and the tube 21.

The component 26 is secured to shaft 20 by means of bolts or pins 33 at either end thereof extending through the sleeve and through shaft 20 so that this par ticular component 26 is easily removed from shaft 20 for replacement purposes.

Also of note is the radially extending portion 34 of the flight 29 situated adjacent the end 35 of the tube which acts as an agitator inasmuch as it always is positioned within the hopper l2 regardless of the position of the auger assembly during the reciprocation thereof.

The main auger component 27 also includes a square cross section sleeve 28A engaged over shaft 20 in end to end relationship with sleeve 28 and secured to the shaft in a similar manner as indicated by reference character 33.

The main auger flight 36 is secured around this sleeve 28A and consists of relatively few flights as clearly illustrated. However, the diameter of these flights is substantially equal to the internal diameter of the tube, the only clearance being sufficient to enable rotation of the flights within the tube.

If used in a reciprocating design as illustrated, the end portion 37 of this main auger flight 36 is pivotted as clearly described in the above mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 3,7l6,304 so that when moving towards the discharge 23, the flight acts as a piston as clearly described in this United States patent.

In operation, concrete or other material being moved by the device is fed to hopper 12 and the fluid operators and 15A are adapted to reciprocate the auger assemblies 14 and 14A alternatively so that when fluid operator 15A is in the innermost position or at the end of a stroke, the feed auger component 26 is substantially within the hopper 12 as clearly shown in FIG. 1. At the same time, the other fluid operator 15 is at the opposite end or fully extended position of its stroke, so

that the feed auger 26 of the assembly 14 is substantially within the tube 21 also as clearly shown in FIG. 1.

At all times the radially extending portions 34 of the feed auger flights 29 are always within the hopper to act as agitators and to ensure an adequate supply of concrete to the feed auger components 26.

Due to the clearance existing between the feed auger flight and the tube 31, concrete is readily augered to the main auger components 27 with very little frictional loss occurring, yet at the same time supplying adequate concrete to these main auger components. This clearance also eliminates entry hole crushing inasmuch as the main auger component never leaves the tube 31 and the clearance between the feed auger flight and the tube prevents this crushing inasmuch as the maximum aggregate size is always less than the distance between the feed auger and the tube.

Not only does this require less horsepower to operate but the main wear will occur on the main auger components which are relatively shorter in length than normal under these circumstances and which furthermore are readily replaced due to the detachable connection thereof to the shaft 20.

FIG. 6 shows the improvement which reduces backup pressure drag in the discharge conduit connected to the common discharge 23.

A clearance auger assembly 39 extends into the end 38A of the discharge conduit as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,716,304 in order to facilitate the movement of the concrete from the portion 23 into the main discharge conduit 38.

However, due to the fact that bends 38B, and 38C are often present in the discharge conduit which may extend some considerable distance, there is a considerable back-up pressure or drag exerted by the concrete within the discharge conduit 38.

This drag or back-up pressure is reduced considerably by the provision of a relatively stiff flexible cable 40 secured by one end 41 thereof to the inner end 42 of the shaft of the clearance auger assembly 39, this securement being either by means of welding or by a clamp 43 or a combination thereof.

The cable 40 extends freely along part of the length of the discharge conduit 38 and preferably around at least the first two bends 38B and 38C and this cable is rotated by the clearance auger shaft 42 which, of course, is connected to the source of power (not illustrated).

The cable forms a spiral configuration, the diameter of which is limited by the diameter of the tube 38 so that the outer surfaces of the coils 44 engage against the inner surfaces of the tube 38. This causes a partial rotation of the concrete aggregate within the pipe and reduces the constant back-up pressure drag. This is particularly useful with light weight aggregate which suffers from lack of fluidity when compressed as it would be in a discharge conduit 38.

Once it clears the first two bends, there is a tendency for the concrete to move more easily along the discharge conduit as it is the first length of the discharge conduit which causes back-up pressure problems.

Although the cable 40 is described in conjunction with the auger assemblies hereinbefore described, nevertheless it will be appreciated that it can be used in any concrete pump construction.

Since various modifications can be made in my invention as hereinabove described, and many apparently widely different embodiments of same made within the spirit and scope of the claims without departing from such spirit and scope, it is intended that all matter contained in the accompanying specification shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense.

What I claim as my invention is:

V 1. In a concrete pump assembly which includes a support framework and a hopper in said framework; a pair of auger assemblies in side by side relationship extending from said hopper to convey concrete from said hopper, each of said auger assemblies including an auger tube having a substantially constant diameter extending from said hopper, and an auger flight component within said tube, said component including a feed auger section and a main auger section in end to end relationship one with the other within said tube and supported for rotation therein, each section including an auger flight, the diameter of the auger flight of said feed section being substantially less than the internal diameter of said tube, the diameter of the auger flight of said main section being substantially equal to the internal diameter of said tube, and a fluid operator in said framework for each of said auger assemblies and each connected to the respective auger flight component to reciprocate said component in said auger tube, said fluid operators reciprocating said components whereby one of said feed auger components in said hopper and the other of said feed auger components is in said tube alternately.

2. The assembly according to claim 1 in which each of said components includes an auger shaft extending through said tube and being secured to said fluid operator, each of said auger sections including a mounting sleeve, said flights being secured around said mounting sleeves, said mounting sleeves engaging upon said shaft in end to end relationship, and means to detachably secure said sleeves to said shaft for rotation thereby.

3. The assembly according to claim 1 which includes a radially extending portion on the end of said feed auger section remote from said main auger section, said radially extending portion rotating within said hopper.

4. The assembly according to claim 2 which includes a radially extending portion on the end of said feed auger section remote from said main augers section, said radially extending portion rotating within said hopper.

5. The assembly according to claim 1 which includes a discharge conduit connected to and extending from said auger tube, a clearance auger assembly extending into said discharge conduit and a relatively stiff flexible cable secured by one end thereof to the inner end of said clearance auger assembly and extending through part of said discharge conduit and being rotated therewithin by said clearance auger assembly.

6. The assembly according to claim 2 which includes a discharge conduit connected to and extending from said auger tube, a clearance auger assembly extending into said discharge conduit and a relatively stiff flexible cable secured by one end thereof to the inner end of said clearance auger assembly and extending through part of said discharge conduit and being rotated therewithin by said clearance auger assembly.

7. The assembly according to claim 3 which includes a discharge conduit connected to and extending from said auger tube, a clearance auger assembly extending into said discharge conduit and a relatively stiff flexible cable secured by one end thereof to the inner end of said clearance auger assembly and extending through part of said discharge conduit and being rotated therewithin by said clearance auger assembly.

8. The assembly according to claim 4 which includes a discharge conduit connected to and extending from said auger tube, a clearance auger assembly extending into said discharge conduit and a relatively stiff flexible cable secured by one end thereof to the inner end of said clearance auger assembly and extending through part of said discharge conduit and being rotated therewithin by said clearance auger assembly. 

1. In a concrete pump assembly which includes a support framework and a hopper in said framework; a pair of auger assemblies in side by side relationship extending from said hopper to convey concrete from said hopper, each of said auger assemblies including an auger tube having a substantially constant diameter extending from said hopper, and an auger flight component within said tube, said component including a feed auger section and a main auger section in end to end relationship one with the other within said tube and supported for rotation therein, each section including an auger flight, the diameter of the auger flight of said feed section being substantially less than the internal diameter of said tube, the diameter of the auger flight of said main section being substanTially equal to the internal diameter of said tube, and a fluid operator in said framework for each of said auger assemblies and each connected to the respective auger flight component to reciprocate said component in said auger tube, said fluid operators reciprocating said components whereby one of said feed auger components in said hopper and the other of said feed auger components is in said tube alternately.
 2. The assembly according to claim 1 in which each of said components includes an auger shaft extending through said tube and being secured to said fluid operator, each of said auger sections including a mounting sleeve, said flights being secured around said mounting sleeves, said mounting sleeves engaging upon said shaft in end to end relationship, and means to detachably secure said sleeves to said shaft for rotation thereby.
 3. The assembly according to claim 1 which includes a radially extending portion on the end of said feed auger section remote from said main auger section, said radially extending portion rotating within said hopper.
 4. The assembly according to claim 2 which includes a radially extending portion on the end of said feed auger section remote from said main augers section, said radially extending portion rotating within said hopper.
 5. The assembly according to claim 1 which includes a discharge conduit connected to and extending from said auger tube, a clearance auger assembly extending into said discharge conduit and a relatively stiff flexible cable secured by one end thereof to the inner end of said clearance auger assembly and extending through part of said discharge conduit and being rotated therewithin by said clearance auger assembly.
 6. The assembly according to claim 2 which includes a discharge conduit connected to and extending from said auger tube, a clearance auger assembly extending into said discharge conduit and a relatively stiff flexible cable secured by one end thereof to the inner end of said clearance auger assembly and extending through part of said discharge conduit and being rotated therewithin by said clearance auger assembly.
 7. The assembly according to claim 3 which includes a discharge conduit connected to and extending from said auger tube, a clearance auger assembly extending into said discharge conduit and a relatively stiff flexible cable secured by one end thereof to the inner end of said clearance auger assembly and extending through part of said discharge conduit and being rotated therewithin by said clearance auger assembly.
 8. The assembly according to claim 4 which includes a discharge conduit connected to and extending from said auger tube, a clearance auger assembly extending into said discharge conduit and a relatively stiff flexible cable secured by one end thereof to the inner end of said clearance auger assembly and extending through part of said discharge conduit and being rotated therewithin by said clearance auger assembly. 